Hafnium carbide powder is obtained by the reduction of hafnium(IV) oxide with carbon at 1800 to 2000 °C. A long processing time is required to remove all oxygen. Alternatively, high-purity HfC coatings can be obtained by chemical vapor deposition from a gas mixture of methane, hydrogen, and vaporized hafnium(IV) chloride. Because of the technical complexity and high cost of the synthesis, HfC has a very limited use, despite its favorable properties such as high hardness (>9 Mohs[5]) and melting point.